1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is an amusement device and method for manually propelling a volume of water toward a desired target from a standing body of water, such as a pool. More specifically, the present invention relates to devices that retain a volume of water and propel that water as a result of the amusement device being manually manipulated by a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many amusement devices in existence that enable a person to propel a volume of water toward a target using manual energy. Many such devices take the form of water guns, wherein a relatively small volume of water is propelled toward a target in a short period of time. A characteristic of many traditional water guns is that the range of the water gun is relatively short. Since the stream of water propelled by a water gun has a small volume, the stream of water is also heavily influenced by wind resistance and cross winds that prevent the propelled water from reaching the intended target across longer distances. Accordingly, the cohesive stream of water originally emitted by a water gun breaks apart while being propelled toward a distant target. As a result, at the outer range of a traditional water gun, a target may only receive a few drops of water.
There are many physical limitations that require traditional water guns to propel a narrow stream of water instead of rapidly emptying their reservoirs all at once. One such limitation is the fact that the reservoir carried by a traditional water gun is fairly small. By limiting the output volume of the water gun, the effective life of the water reservoir is extended. However, often in water amusement games, the objective of the game is not to reserve your water supply. Rather, in many games, the objective is to get your opponent as wet as possible in as short a period of time as possible. A second limitation is that many traditional water guns use the energy from a finger or hand manipulated pump to propel water toward a target. Often the energy available from such a manually manipulated pump is only sufficient enough to propel a small volume of water toward a target. As such, the physical limitations of the water propelling mechanisms in traditional water guns do not enable the water gun to discharge its reservoir in a rapid fashion.
In an attempt to increase the volume of water an amusement device can deliver in a short period of time, amusement devices have been developed that use water filled projectiles. Such prior art devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,646 to Tarng, entitled WATER GUN LAUNCHING WATER GRENADE and U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,256 to Lee et al., entitled THROWN WATER PROPELLING AND DISPENSING TOY. Such prior art amusement devices are capable of delivering a fairly large volume of water to a distant target. However, by using a projectile filled with water, a projectile with a significant bulk mass is also being delivered at the target. Consequently, if the target were a person, the possibility of injury exists if the person is struck by the projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,181 to Anderson, entitled SWIMMING POOL WATER CANNON, shows yet another approach used in the art for delivering a large volume of water at a target. In the Anderson patent, a hollow frustrum-shaped amusement device is provided having handles on its sides. A person sitting or standing in a body of water can rapidly pull the larger end of the frustrum-shaped amusement device into the body of water. As a result, water within the frustrum-shaped amusement device rushes toward the small end of the amusement device and is propelled into the air.
The problems associated with the amusement device described in the Anderson patent include the fact that the operator of the amusement device must position himself/herself in a body of water of a significant depth. This alone prevents the Anderson device from being used in a game where the object of the game is to keep dry. Additionally, the Anderson device requires a significant amount of manipulation and time between firing cycles. As such, opponents can easily advance during the period between firing cycles when the Anderson device is incapable of propelling water.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an amusement device that is capable of delivering a large volume of water at a distant target without the use of a projectile.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an amusement device that can automatically supply itself with water from a body of water, when used near the surface of the body of water.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an amusement device as stated above that is low cost, easy to manufacture and has a rapid firing cycle.
These objectives are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.